Imagine that you are a blind person. And you are carrying a sack of baseballs. To tell if something is in front of you, you throw a baseball. If the ball bounces back to you, something is there.

Now suppose a cardboard box is in front of you. You throw a baseball at it. The baseball bounces back to you. But the box will also move! The box will no longer be where it was when the ball hit it. By merely "looking" at the box with your baseball, you have altered the state of the box.

This is what happens every time you look at something in real life. The "baseballs" are particles of light that bounce off the object, then go into your eyes.

So when you are looking at, say, a house, the light from the sun is actually moving the house, just the way your baseball moved the cardboard box. But the house is so big the effect not noticeable.

But electrons are very small. When light particles hit them, they move noticeably. The result is a blur. You cannot be certain just where they are. That's part of the Uncertainty Principle!

35 posted on 01/22/2014 3:49:36 PM PST by Leaning Right
(Why am I holding this lantern? I am looking for the next Reagan.)